ACU, playing its last season in the LSC and NCAA Division II, could have clinched at least a share of the title with a win Wednesday and put itself in position to nab conference title outright at home Saturday against Texas A&M-Kingsville in the regular-season finale.

Now, the Wildcats (20-5 overall, 15-4 LSC) are a half-game back of Midwestern State (21-5, 16-4), which wrapped up the regular season with a 73-63 win over Texas Woman’s on Wednesday in Wichita Falls. The win also gave the Mustangs the No. 1 seed going into the LSC postseason tournament.

ACU must beat Kingsville on Saturday to get a share of its first league title since the 1998-99 season and the conference’s No. 2 seed.

Tarleton State (18-7, 14-5) is a game back of ACU going in its regular-season finale at West Texas A&M on Saturday.

Despite the loss, the Wildcats are still in good shape to earn their first trip to the NCAA playoffs since the 2008-09 season. ACU went into play Wednesday ranked No. 2 in the South Central Region. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s Colorado Mesa (21-1) is No. 1. The three conference champions in the region (Rocky Mountain, Heartland and LSC) get automatic bids to the region tournament, while the next five highest ranked teams will get at-large berths.

Incarnate Word (17-8, 13-6), which is tied with WT for fourth in the LSC standings, is ranked No. 10 in the region and desperately needs to work its way up — or win the LSC tournament for the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA playoffs.

ACU trailed just 36-31 at halftime Wednesday, but the Cardinals outscored the Wildcats 14-5 in the first 6½ minutes of the second half to lead 50-36. They pushed their lead to 22 (66-44) with 6:40 left in the game and held on for the victory.

The 53 points match the Wildcats’ season-low total. They beat Angelo State 53-39 on Jan. 23.

Mackenzie Lankford led the Wildcats in scoring for the fifth straight game with 11 points, while Renata Marquez had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Kynzie Newman added 10 points off the bench.

Dionelle Rucker led the Cardinals (13-12, 9-8) with 22 points. Incarnate Word began the day tied for third in the LSC and had already clinched a berth in the LSC tournament.

ACU, which will miss the conference tournament for the fifth consecutive year, will play its game of the season against Texas A&M-Kingsville at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Moody Coliseum. It’s the Wildcats final game as an LSC and Division II team. ACU joins the Division I Southland Conference this summer and won’t be eligible for postseason play until the 2017-18 season.